Full Description
This exciting volume draws together the views of some of the most eminent figures in corporate law and finance regarding the law on fixed and floating charges. The focus for the book is the litigation in the case of Spectrum Plus, which culminated in a House of Lords judgment in June 2005 ([2005] UKHL 41).
This decision has important commercial implications, not only for the parties in the case but also for the business community at large, including banks and other lenders, and practitioners in corporate finance and insolvency. The litigation also raises important juristic questions regarding the fixed/floating charge divide such as the theoretical basis for that divide, how the divide is determined, why it exists at all and whether it ought to be maintained as a coherent doctrine and a beneficial policy. The decision also has important ramifications in both security law and insolvency law and it provides a challenge to some of our most basic conceptions of freedom of contract and the assignability of rights and assets in law and equity.
These issues, amongst others, are explored by the contributors to this book. The contributors include Gabriel Moss, who was one of the QCs involved in the Spectrum litigation, Sir Roy Goode, Michael Bridge, John Armour, Robert Stevens, Sarah Worthington, Julian Franks and Oren Sussman, Jenny Payne and Louise Gullifer, Philip Wood, Joshua Getzler, Look Chan Ho, and Nicholas Frome and Kate Gibbons.
Contents
Foreword ; Preface ; 1. Fictions and Floating Charges: Some Reflections on the House of Lords' Decision in Spectrum ; 2. The Case for the Abolition of the Floating Charge ; 3. Floating Charges: The Use and Abuse of Doctrinal Analysis ; 4. The Characterization of Fixed and Floating Charges ; 5. Spectrum: An End to the Conflict or the Signal for a New Campaign? ; 6. A Review of Brumark and Spectrum in an International Setting ; 7. Security After the Enterprise Act ; 8. The Debenture-Holder's Liability in Unjust Enrichment after Spectrum ; 9. Should We Redistribute in Insolvency? ; 10. The Role of Security over Future and Circulating Capital: Evidence from the British Economy circa 1850-1920 ; 11. The Economics of English Insolvency: Some Recent Developments ; 12. The Law Commission's Proposals for the Reform of Corporate Security Interests
